Proud to share the news that Shantell Martin is behind this year’s 1800 Essential Artists series. Since 2008, 1800 Tequila has been collaborating with artists through its annual Essential Artists series to create extraordinary bottle art for its 1800 Silver. To date, the brand has collaborated with 43 contemporary artists (including Nathan Fox, Shepard Fairey, Hannah Stoufer, Yuko Shimizu, and more). That totals to 57 works of bottle art that are now highly prized.

With 1800 Essential Artists Series 9, which is limited to only 2,500 cases for all of the United States, Martin is only the second person to actually design the full suite. She is also the first woman. 

“When I started on this project, I did a lot of research about the brand, how 1800 Tequila is made, its mission statement and history and involvement with artists,” Martin says. “After taking all that in, I gathered pen and paper and drew for a few days letting my stream of consciousness and the information I had guide me. I wanted to make sure I pushed the limits a bit to see how far I could go with the inspiration I had and create something that invites people to think about who they are and the environment they are in. Then I selected what I thought would be a fit for the project. What appears on the bottles are the winners out of many designs I created—expressions of self-reflection and truth.” - Shantell Martin